Mobile app crashing on restart to a local files playlist

[Effleurement]

Plan
Premium
Country
Poland
Device
Google Pixel 2 XL
Operating System
Android 8.1.0

The issue is as follows: I have a playlist created exclusively with local files on my laptop which I then synchronise with the mobile app and download for offline listening. I'm listening to the songs on the playlist on my mobile phone and when I pause and minimize the app to use something else for a moment, I am no longer able to go back to Spotify because it crashes (black screen and after couple of seconds the app closes with an error). Following that, even if I restart my phone, force the app to shut down, I am no longer able to reopen it as it crashes on open (probably trying to get back to what was played as last, i.e. the downloaded local file) Cleaning the cache does not help either. The only option is to uninstall the app and reinstall it which basically causes the app to log me out and desynchronize the playlists, which I then need to synchronize all over again to experience the same problem when I minimize it. Not a very convenient thing to do...

[dent9704]

I started having the exact same issues as you today on my Galaxy S8 on 8.0.0. I think I resolved it by going into Settings > Apps > Spotify > Storage > Clear Data. After doing that I had to log into my account and resync my local files again, but I haven't had Spotify freeze/crash on me since.

I'm not sure why this method was any different than uninstalling & reinstalling the app, but its worth a shot.

Edit: Nevermind this did not fix it. I believe it was working properly because my laptop was still on the same network as explained below. Still getting the grey bar at the top the same as the others.

[tngyn]

You're not alone in this as I'm also having this problem on my Google Pixel XL (Android 8.1.0). I'm a premium user in the United States.

If I stop playing music from a local playlist on my phone and I switch apps or minimize Spotify, then the next time I go into Spotify, it hangs on an empty screen (the screen has no buttons or text, but has the black background and dark grey header background bar) and will crash. This will always happen when I try to go back into Spotify. Clearing the cache and data doesn't get the app working and the only thing I can do is to uninstall it and reinstall it to get it working again. This will happen all over again though once I listen to a local song from a local playlist though.

Attached is a screenshot of what Spotify looks like when I try to reopen the app.

[Effleurement]

@dent9704: Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately that doesn't work for me. 😕 It works fine when both the Spotify on my laptop and the app are on and connected to the same network. When I disconnect my laptop, I noticed I can no longer fast forward a song using the song progress bar as the app crashes as well, I cannot then pause the song either until the app crashes. And once I close it, I can no longer reopen it as it crashes as described in my first post.  

@tngyn: that's exactly what happens to me indeed. Same thing.

[rafabemerguy]

Exact same issue here. This has been happening for the last 24 hours, but I've only noticed that playing local files was the cause today. 

[k-mmeo6x4g_kg]

Same problem. For 2 months I've had an issue with the local files which when fixed, only to introduce a new problem worse than the last. 

Feels like Spotify really hates users who use local files.

[SiegfriedBG]

Same as all of you guys, started yesterday, it only gets "fixed" after I do a complete reinstall just to crash forever again when I minimize the app 😞